Lyme disease can affect any part of the body and cause many different symptoms. The commonest symptoms relate to the person feeling unwell, having flu-like symptoms, extreme tiredness, muscle pain, muscle weakness, joint pain, upset digestive system, headache, disturbances of the central nervous system and a poor sleep pattern. In some cases a characteristically shaped, expanding ‘bull’s eye’ rash appears on the skin. However, a rash in any form is not a universal symptom.

Lyme disease, also known as Lyme borreliosis, is an infectious disease caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi. The disease is classified by the World Health Organisation as an infectious or parasitic disease. Borrelia burgdorferi belongs to the bacterial genus ‘Borrelia’. These in turn are members of a larger family of bacteria called Spirochaetes.

Within days to weeks following a tick bite, 70% of patients will have a red, slowly expanding "bull's-eye" rash (called erythema migrans), accompanied by general tiredness, fever, headache, stiff neck, muscle aches, and joint pain.

Since the disease occurs only in females of reproductive age, it is possible that there is an association between...

A corkscrew-shaped microbe, Borrelia burgdorferi, causes Lyme disease. Deer ticks-small ticks that usually feed on deer, mice, and birds-carry the bacterium and spread it to humans they bite. In the U.S., most cases of Lyme disease are restricted to the northeast, the mid-Atlantic, the upper north-central states, and northwestern California. Ticks tend to live near the ground in moist, shaded areas, particularly in tall grasses, leaf litter, overgrown brush, and woody environments.

Many oral antibiotics are available to treat Lyme disease. Specific regimens are prescribed depending on the symptoms, and 75 to 80 percent of persons treated will recover from the disease. Unfortunately, before treatment some patients will develop a severe case of the disease, with tissue damage and disability. To avoid being bitten by the deer tick you should use outdoor insecticides and keep deer away from areas where children play (use an eight-foot-high or electrified fence).

The Lyme disease vaccine is inactivated, being a protein piece of the microbe's cell wall. The vaccine was licensed in the U.S. in 1998 for persons age 15 to 70 years of age. Testing in children younger than 15 is not yet complete, so to prevent tick bites, parents should make sure their children follow the precautions listed above. Three doses of Lyme disease vaccine are needed. The first two doses are given one month apart; the third dose follows the first by 12 months.

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A clinical case of Lyme disease occurs when a person is infected by a tick bite. Symptoms follow after an incubation period that may last between two and thirty days. However, on some occasions, the bacteria do not cause disease straight away. The bacteria can enter a phase in which they do not cause symptoms but are still present. They may still have the potential to cause active disease at a later stage.

There are in the region of 500 confirmed cases each year in the UK. The Health Protection Agency (HPA) acknowledges that confirmed cases do not necessarily reflect all the cases of the disease. HPA official estimates suggest there could be up to 2,000 new cases occurring in the UK every year. Since full recovery may not take place in many cases, the total number of people affected is accumulating.

In the United Kingdom, Lyme disease is carried by the sheep tick, Ixodes ricinus. This tick can also feed on deer and other wild mammals and birds. The tick prefers to live in woods, heath and moorland, although it does not occur exclusively in these habitats. People who live in the parts of the country where the tick is prevalent are likely to be at greater risk.

Studies of the DNA taken from ticks in the Natural History Museum show the infection was in the UK in Victorian times. Therefore, it is almost certainly not a new illness. However, it does appear to be becoming more common.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) state that the diagnosis of Lyme disease is based on symptoms, physical findings and the patient’s history. There are several laboratory tests that aim to detect this infection, however, none of them are absolutely reliable. If positive they support the diagnosis.